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As we set sail today into Ephesians 4, the apostle Paul moves us from the beliefs of the church to the behavior of the church. In other words, the focus is on how our doctrine should be demonstrated in life.

He gets to his primary concern in verse 3, where he calls the church to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Right away, Paul is telling us that measuring up to our calling as Christians is not discovered by how we treat the world or even our own family members; it is revealed in how we treat each other in the church.

The major emphasis in the first three chapters of Ephesians was the union of Jewish and Gentile believers in one body—the church. Now Paul wants them to maintain that unity in the church. That same unity is needed today.

I am always amazed at the church where I have pastored for decades. I have seen people come together from a variety of backgrounds. Some are mature believers, while others have only recently come to faith. We have people from the north and people from the south. We have elderly people and young people.  

In my recent new-members class, I had people from Iran, South Korea, China, Argentina, Russia, Thailand, Brazil, and the Philippines. We are from so many different backgrounds and cultures. How can we ever hope to get along? Let me tell you, the fact that we do is one of the greatest testimonies we have to the world. The gospel of Jesus Christ is able to bind together people of different backgrounds and cultures into a fellowship of genuine love and unity.

Keep in mind that Paul is talking about unity, not uniformity. Uniformity is the only thing the world knows anything about, and there is incredible pressure from the culture to make everybody just like everybody else. Uniformity is man-made; unity is Spirit-made.

Preserving our unity in Christ is critical because it is a primary target of the enemy. Satan’s most effective tool against gospel-believing churches is to divide them.

No wonder Paul exhorts the Ephesian church to protect “the unity of the Spirit” (verse 3). But how are we to do that? Paul answers by giving us the ingredients of genuine unity—those things that promote the unity of the church. There are four of them listed in these next few verses.

The first ingredient you need to mix into the recipe of genuine unity is humility. Verse 2 says unity is to be maintained “with all humility.” You could translate that “be completely humble.”

To the ancient Greeks and Romans, humility was a quality for slaves to exhibit. Paul’s culture valued those who were self-sufficient, self-assured, and self-promoting.[1] In fact, humility has always been politically incorrect. But this is the heartbeat of Jesus Christ.[2] His humble attitude was striking, and we are told to imitate Him, over in Philippians 2:3-11. We are to have the same attitude as Christ, who humbled Himself to become a man and to die for our sins.

The second ingredient in the recipe of unity is “gentleness” (verse 2). This can be translated “meekness.” Let me remind you, the New Testament idea of meekness is not weakness; rather, it is power under control. This Greek word for gentleness, or meekness, was used to describe horses trained to carry warriors into battle; they were trained to respond instantly to the command of the warrior. Their strength was under the soldier’s control.[3]

In a similar way, our strength is to be under the Spirit’s control. Disunity in the church is most often tied to a lack of humility and people’s desire to gain power. Frankly, their strength is out of control; it is certainly not under the Spirit’s control.

In verse 2 Paul adds another ingredient to mix in with the others: “patience, bearing with one another in love.” He is referring to being patient with other people while being provoked.[4] And this is to be done in love.

So, when we are not treated like we think we should be, when people do not respond like we think they should, here is the question: Do we care more about the unity of the church than we do about ourselves? Are we willing to be overlooked or even misunderstood and respond graciously for the sake of unity?

If you are like me, you are probably feeling a little guilty right about now and thinking, I guess I really should try harder. Well, that is exactly what Paul encourages us to do in verse 3, when he says we are to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” This is the fourth ingredient—“eagerness.” Literally, it means to make every effort for the cause of unity.

But do not miss this: nowhere does Paul tell us we can create unity. We cannot. The Spirit of God creates unity; we are told to energetically and diligently preserve it, guard it, maintain it.

Beloved, to belong to a local church is to make up your mind that you are not as important as other people. It is being quick to protect the unity of the assembly. And since the Spirit creates unity, we need to walk in the Spirit in order to protect it.

We are all different from each other in one way or another; we have different personalities as well. But we all must follow the same Person—the Lord. And Paul is cheering us on here, effectively saying, “Do not let up; do not stop preserving and protecting the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Paul then moves on to connect the unity of the church to all three members of the Trinity. He writes, “There is one body and one Spirit” (verse 4). There is only one Holy Spirit and one body He has created—the universal, living church of the redeemed.

Verse 5 includes the second person of the Trinity—the Son of God. Paul says there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” We all serve the one true Lord, the Lord Jesus; and we share the one true faith in Him. The one baptism refers to water baptism, the ceremony by which we publicly profess our faith in the Lord and identify ourselves with His death, burial, and resurrection.

Paul connects our unity with God the Father in verse 6, where he writes that there is “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” God is the Father of all who believe in Christ.

It is as if Paul is saying to us, “Listen, we have way too much in common—our salvation, our family membership in Christ, our union with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—there is too much connecting us to then disconnect and divide over self-centered, divisive matters.”  

Now sometimes division is necessary to preserve biblical doctrine from being ignored, diluted, or outright defied. Denominations and churches today are dividing because church and denominational leaders are defying Scripture. That kind of division is honorable. We can never surrender the truth of the gospel, or the moral standards of Scripture, or the authority of the God who created us.

Our unity is based on the truths of Scripture and the gospel. So, let us humbly and patiently welcome, encourage, and seek the best for each other in our local churches. Differences that arise over nonessential issues should be resolved in a spirit of humility and peace. Let us show the world our unity around the gospel, around the truth of God’s Word, around the God who created us, around the Savior who died and rose again for us.

Let us stand together in this powerful witness to the world of the life-changing work of Christ.